<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"> Vidalia, GA-</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">01/10/13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Chefs across Georgia will be helping to kick off the 36th Annual Vidalia Onion Festival with the Golden Onion professional cooking competition. For the second year in a row, the event will showcase the Vidalia® onion, Georgia’s most exclusive and renowned agricultural treasure, while also offering a platform for chefs across Georgia to display their skills and creativity, according to a press release.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The professional cooking competition will be held on Sunday, April 14, 2013 in Vidalia, Georgia.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/vidalia010913.jpg" alt="Images010913" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“The Golden Onion is an exciting opportunity for chefs across Georgia to roll up their sleeves and show us what they can do with our official state vegetable,” says Ingrid M. Varn, Executive Director of the Vidalia Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. “And it’s a fun opportunity for festival goers to witness a cooking competition while standing face-to-face with chefs—cooking competitions are very popular on TV but it’s a very different experience to smell what’s cooking and know that nothing has been edited out.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The competitors will have one hour to prepare and present a recipe that features Vidalia® onions. Twelve chefs will compete with one assistant. Dishes will be judged on the basis of taste, presentation, creativity and overall use of Vidalia® onions.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The panel of five judges will include Chef Hilary White, Owner and Executive Chef of The Hil On the Hill: A Restaurant at Serenbe, who was awarded First Place Champion of Golden Onion 2012; Chef Holly Chute, Executive Chef of the Georgia Governor’s Mansion; Bob Stafford, Director of the Vidalia® Onion Business Council; and Hope S. Philbrick, an Atlanta-based freelance writer/editor who conceived of the Golden Onion.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">First Place Champion will be awarded the Golden Onion trophy and a cash prize of $500. The second place winner will receive $250 and the third place winner $100. All winners will receive commemorative plaques.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.vidaliaonionfestival.com" target="_new"> Vidalia Onion Festival </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
